One of the Team
by Silver Inklett
Summary: "Wait... so you guys were serious earlier?" "Well, yeah! We don't just let anyone into the Shadowgear Cuddle Pile," Levy said fondly. "Rule number six," Jet chimed in.


_So this was originally my entry for the second day of the Levy Appreciation week that happened on tumblr a while ago. I wasn't able to do anything else for the week, but I'm still pretty happy with this, and I want to post something tonight, so here I am. Also, let's all be totally honest. Shadowgear hate is a_ huge _problem on ffnet. Like seriously you guys? Stop hating on Jet and Droy. Use the one or two extra brain cells to work them in your Gajevy fics as Levy and Gajeel's friends instead of the bad guys/useless baffons/abusive ex's. It's not hard. You're being lazy._

 _#stopShadowgearhate2k15_

* * *

Levy was used to waking up surrounded by freshly-showered boys and the loud rumbles of muffled snoring. It was just one of the many perks to having grown up in a team that was mostly male. In fact, there were some night when she _couldn't_ sleep until she had called Droy up on her Comm-Lac, talking until he passed out and she let his rumbling snored lull her to sleep.

What she wasn't used to was the loud sigh from the warm object she was resting her head on, and the quiet "Thank fucking god, one of you is awake."

Levy yawned, stretching her arms above her head before rolling onto her side and smiling at the pouting man she was using as a pillow. "Good morning, Gajeel," she murmured sleepily, pouting when several wild curls of blue hair fell into her vision and she tried to blow them away.

"Good for you maybe," the Iron Dragon Slayer grumbled, pushing her bangs back. "I can't feel my legs."

Levy looked over her shoulder and smiled. Droy was curled up next to her, also using the large Dragon Slayer's stomach as a pillow, and Jet was sprawled out haphazardly over them both. Lily was happily curled up behind the bend in Droy's knees, rumbling in his sleep. Both men were snoring loudly.

"This happen often?" Gajeel asked, looking at the two men (and one anthropomorphic panther) with a look that was caught between confusion and fond exasperation. Levy giggled.

"Not recently," she admitted. "We used to do this a lot when we were younger, and then mostly onJOBS and after guild brawls. We haven't really had a lot of opportunities since the whole _'Seven Year Magical Island Coma'_ thing." The night after she had come home had been the latest example, and she still remembered how Jet and Droy had curled protectively around her, catching her up on what she had missed and graciously pretending not to notice when Levy wept quietly into Droy's shirt, mourning the loss of seven years of her life and crying for the grief her boys had gone through.

Needless to say, Levy was enjoying this Shadowgear Cuddle Pile much more.

"Look," Gajeel said with a huff, pulling the Solid Script Mage out of her thoughts. "You can explain this whole strange phenomenon to me later, just help me get out from under yer boys without waking them up."

"Nope."

" _Levy."_

 _"_ Rule number three of the Shadowgear Cuddle Pile," Levy explained with a grin, lazily wrapping her arm around Gajeel's waist. "You may not leave the pile until the rest of the team is up. Exceptions can be made if the member needs to use the restroom." Gajeel gave her a look that made a point of how odd he thought it was that this strange ritual of theirs had rules.

"Fine then, I have to piss. Get yer dweebs off me."

"No lying in the Shadowgear Cuddle Pile," Jet said through a yawn, smirking at Gajeel. "Really, Gajeel, it's like you're new to this."

" _I am new to this,_ get Droy off me before I decide that I don't give a shit how he wakes up and move anyways."

Levy and Jet both laughed, Jet joining Levy in grabbing a part of Gajeel to hold him down; this time his arm. "Come on, it's not that bad," Levy said with a smile. Gajeel pouted at her.

"It wouldn't be if y'all weren't cuttin' off circulation to my sprained ankle," he said, gesturing to the bottom of the bed. Levy leaned up to take a look at the wrapping peaking out from under the hem of his sweat pants , Droy's arm thrown over the Iron Dragon Slayer's knee.

Levy had been the one to wrap his ankle late last night as the five had made it back to their hotel room after a long day of defending a tourist town from a herd of migrating Vulcans (the damn fuckers were _destructive)._ They'd all spent a good couple of hours crammed together into the tiny hotel bathroom, patching each other up as they all simultaneously whined about their own pain and told the rest to quit their moping (Gajeel's words, not hers). By the time they were all patched up, they were all too tired to try and figure out sleeping arrangements, and they had ended up cuddled together on one of the two beds in the room.

"Quit bitching," Jet teased, sitting up carefully to move Droy's arm. "You tellin' me the great Drake of Fiore can't handle a little pain?"

"Fuck off, Speedy, I know where yer bruised ribs are and I will take advantage of this knowledge."

With a sigh, Levy reached out and tugged hard on their earlobes. "No fighting in the Shadowgear Cuddle Pile," she said dryly as they both hissed in pain.

"Come on Shorty, Jet knows I'm just fuckin' with him."

"It's how we show we care!"

"You're both awful," Droy murmured, pushing himself up and grinning when both Levy and Jet yelped as they were dislodged from their part of the pile. He carefully avoided nudging the still-sleeping Pantherlily, and Levy debated if they should make that a new rule.

' _Rule number fourteen of the Shadowgear Cuddle Pile; thou shalt not disturb the sleeping Exceed. Especially considering said Exceed can turn into a seven-foot-tall mountain of muscle and well-trained fury.'_

"Thank god," Gajeel muttered, lifting Levy with a hand under her shoulders so he could roll out from under her. "I appreciate the thought, but I think I would choke on fluff if I stayed in yer weird team thing any longer."

Droy shot him a confused look. "Don't you mean 'our weird team thing'?" Gajeel froze, one leg already in the air and halfway off the bed.

He turned his head to look at the rest of Shadowgear, all of them now sitting up and watching him. Levy couldn't help but feel her heart flutter at the genuine surprise on his face. It softened his features and she wondered if this was what Gajeel would have looked like all the time if the world hadn't broken him before bringing him to them.

"Wait... so you guys were serious earlier?" he asked slowly.

"Well, yeah! We don't just let anyone into the Shadowgear Cuddle Pile," Levy said fondly.

"Rule number six," Jet chimed in.

"There was an incident with Natsu when we were 17," Droy said with a shrug.

Gajeel was still staring at them. "So you really want me to be a part of your team?" he asked quietly, and Jet and Droy both shot Levy grins. She wanted to punch them both.

"Wellllll," Levy ran her fingers through her tangled curls nervously, "you're kind of already a member of Shadowgear on the guild roster?" she said with a small smile.

"Wait, what?" Gajeel sat upright, pierced eyebrows furrowed together. "Since when?"

"Since you joined the guild, man," Jet said, elbows resting on his knees. He suddenly looked eighteen again instead of twenty-five. Gajeel's eyes snapped back towards Levy, and she swallowed thickly.

"When I stepped up and gave you your guild mark instead of just letting Mirajane do it," she explained, "that was kind of the equivalent of me, being the team leader, claiming you as a member of Shadowgear. You've been a part of the team since then," she shrugged. "We just figured we should make it official." Levy looked up at the stunned Dragon Slayer nervously. She didn't mention that at the time, it had been less of an attempt to reach out to Gajeel and more of an insurance policy. As the leader of his team, Levy had a bit of sway concerning Gajeel's position in the guild; aka., she could get him removed from the guild, no questions asked, if he didn't show any signs of changing. Makarov had known her intentions when she had stepped up all those years ago, hands shaking and eyes hard, but none of them could have predicted that it would one day lead to this."I mean, if you don't want to be you can put in an official request to have your name removed but you fit into the team really well and we all like taking jobs with you and-"

"Shorty, _breathe_ ," Gajeel said quickly, gently squeezing her shoulders. After she had calmed down, he smiled at her crookedly, and her heart skipped several beats. "I'd be honored," he said earnestly, glancing up at both Jet and Droy.

Levy was positive that if she grinned any wider, her face would crack in two. "Yes!" she cheered, throwing herself forward and wrapping her arms tightly around Gajeel's neck. "You won't regret this, I promise!"

Gajeel laughed, patting her back. "I'm sure-"

"CUDDLES FOR GAJEEL!"

"JET YOU SHIT DON'T EVEN-"

Levy laughed as she felt Jet and Droy both throw themselves on top of Levy, joining the hug and effectively dislodging the precariously perched Gajeel and sending the whole team to the floor. Cushioning their impact with a hastily written ' _PILLOW',_ a few beats passed before the four all started laughing, Levy grinning in contentment as all her favorite boys shook with mirth around her.

"Owowowowow guys my shoulder!"

"Shit, sorry Levy!"

"Since I'm in Shadowgear now, does that mean I have to learn how to speak in unison with these nerds too?"

"Is it too early to vote on kicking him out?"

"... What the hell are you all doing on the floor?"


End file.
